Coin collecting apparatus



Jan. 21, 1936. w. H. HARVEY 2,028,210

COIN COLLECTING APPARATUS Filed May 16, 1935 FIG.

INVEN7E'OR 1 By WHHARVEY ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 21, 1936 com COLLECTING APPARATUS William H. Harvey, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application May 16, 1935, Serial No. 21,780

8 Claims.

This invention relates to coin collecting apparatus particularly such apparatus for use at a telephone pay station.

As applied to telephonecollec'tors the present "5 invention is particularly adapted for that type of coin collector wherein the calling party tentatively deposits a coin, which coin is subsequently refunded or collected depending upon whether the desired connection is obtained. In such ap- '10 paratus .as disclosed, for example, inthe O. F.

Forsberg U. S. Patent 1,043,219, issued November 5, 1912, it is usual to temporarily retain the deposited coin within a coin'hopper upon a trapdoor normally held in a coin supporting position "15 by a normally vertical vane pivoted at its lower end, which vane-may be moved bya relay to releasethe trap to discharge the deposited coin into a refund chute or collect chute depending ,upon which direction the vane is moved. The refund chute at its upper end and adjacent to this vane .usually has a pivoted shutter'which freely yields to pressure from discharged coins to permit the discharged coins topass. .on down the refund chute to ,a :position accessible from outside the 325 coin collector housing, but normally will keep the -refund chute closed when subjected to pressure from the opposite .direction.

Attempts are occasionally made to obtain a fraudulent refund of deposited coins by inserting a tool into the space behind the above-mentioned shutter to actuate thetrap supporting vane to coin refunding position before the central omce operator has energized the coin relay to move the .vane in the opposite direction for coin collection. This requires the manipulation of the. tool in 'sucha manner as to cause an outwardmovement of the shutter before thetoolcan be inserted behind the shutter in contact with the, coin vane.

An object of this invention is to prevent fraudu- 40 lent refunds of the above described character.

- In accordance with a preferred form of this invention the pivoted shutter supports or otherwise controls a latch member which has a hook capable of engagingthe toporfree end of the coin vane. The shutter'in, its normal position supports the hook out'of the pathof the vane but when theshutteris moved outwardly by a tool, for example, the hook is lowered to engage the vane andprevent the movement of the vane to a. coin refunding position whileoffering no obstruction tothe movement of the vane in the opposite directionto a coin collect position. The latch member is also preferably arranged to offer "no obstruction to a legitimate refunding operationby the coin relay. Theabove, describedarrangement, therefore, prevents the mechanical operation of the coin vane to obtain a refund by means of a tool inserted behind the shutter.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary view partly in section of the central portion of a telephone coin collector;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged rear view of the coin hopper of Fig. 1 with a portion of the side wall removed to show the interlocking of the coin vane and coin shutter;

Fig. 3 is similar to Fig. 2 except that the coin shutter in the refund chute has been moved outwardly thereby preventing a refunding movement of the coin vane; and

Fig. 4 is a top view of the coin vane and coin shutter.

Fig. 1 discloses only the central portion of a telephone coin collector of the general type disclosed in the above-mentioned Forsberg patent, and reference may be made to the cited patent for a fuller description of its mode of operation than is needed herein for. a description of the present invention. A subscriber wishing to make a telephone call deposits a coin in a slot provided therefor and the coin after passing down a coin chute l0 enters a coin hopper ll, actuates a coin trigger l2 and comes to rest temporarily upon a pivoted coin trap I3 from which, under the control of a central oflice operator, it may be discharged into a refund chute M or a collect chute [5 depending upon whether the desired connection is established. Coin trigger l2 when actuated by a falling coin serves to release a spring pressed lever l6 for closing spring contacts to establish a circuit through the windings of the polarized relay I! in the usual and well known manner.

Coin trap I3 is normally supported in a substantially horizontal position by a roller 30 'trap E3 in falling will discharge coins thereon into the collect chute l5 but if the electromagnet is energized with current of the opposite polarity, vane l8 will be moved to the left and the coin fund chute I4 leading to an opening (not shown) in the external wall of the lower housing of the 'trap in falling will discharge its coins into a recoin collector where refunded coins can be recovered by the user of the instrument.

In 'view of the fact that refund chute M as in the Forsberg patent has an external opening it is necessary to protect vane I8 from tampering, specifically to prevent the vane l8 from being fraudulently operated by a wire or other instrument inserted through the refund opening in the external housing. Substantial protection may be secured by a pivoted shutter 2| which normally closes the refund chute and cannot be moved inwardly because of the upward slope of the bottom wall of chute l4 but can be moved freely outwardly by the weight of any coin discharged from coin trap I3.

' Attempts, however, are occasionally made to insert a wire or tool under the lower edge of shutter 2| to cause it to move outwardly to an extent sufficient togain access to the vane l8. This invention provides means whereby such fraudulent attempts may be frustrated. The upper edge of the shutter 2| adjacent rear wall 22 of the hopper is cut away to provide a small gap at that point between the pivoting pin 23 and the upper edge 24 of the shutter. Pivoted upon the free portion of pin 23 is a light-weight latch member 25 having a hooked end 26. This latch 25 is normally maintained in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of shutter 2| by a formed extension 21 which normally rests against the inside face of the shutter. The member 25 has a second formed extension 28 which when the member 25 is moved counter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 2, acts as a stop after a limited movement in that direction by contacting with the extension 29 of the upper wall of the coin hopper. Latch 25 is overbalanced by shutter 2| sothat the latch will remain in a substantially horizontal position as shown in Fig. 2 as long as shutter 2| remains closed, but the latch will drop downwardy if shutter 2| is moved outwardly as shown in Fig. 3.

r The upper edge of the coin vane 8 immediately below latch 25 is designated by reference character 3|. It will be apparent that as long as shutter 2| remains closed, hooked end 26 lies out of the path of coin Vane l8 so that coin vane l8 may be moved to the left by the refunding operation of electromagnet without interference from latch 25. Any coins discharged by such a refunding operation will strike shutter 2| to thrust the shutter outwardly to allow the coins to pass on down the refund chute and this outward movement of shield 2| will be accompanied by a lowering of latch 25 but the subsequent closing of shield 2| after the coins have passed through will restore latch 25 to its normal position of Fig. 2 where it will'not interfere with the return of vane l8 to its vertical position upon the deenergization of magnet l1.

However, it will be apparent from Fig. 3 that if shutter 2| is successfully moved outwardly by a tool inserted up the refund chute such a tool, when inserted far enough to strike vane Hi, can- 'not move the vane to the left a distance sufficient to cause the coin trap to drop because of the hook 25 engaging the upper edge of the vane l8 thereby preventing the counter-clockwise rotation of the vane. The arrangement just described, therefore, prevents any fraudulent refunding operation of vane l8 by any means which involves the displacement of shield 2| from its normally closed position.

Fig. 4 is a top view showing the relationship of the coin vane I8, shield 2| and latch 25 and requires no further explanation.

It will be apparent that latch 25 does not follow the full outward movement of shutter 2| caused by discharged coins since extension 28 stops the downward movement of the latch 25 after it has dropped a short distance but its limited movement of the latch does not interfere in any way with the free yielding of the shutter 2| to the pressure exerted by discharged coins since the latch 25 and shield 2| are independently pivoted on pin 23. While the normal position of latch 25 with its hook 26 should be such as to avoid any danger that the hook will engage the vane H3 in a legitimate refunding operation with the shutter 2| in its closed position it is equally true that the relation should be such that shutter 2| needs to be opened only a very small amount in order to make hook 26 effective to engage the upper edge of vane I8.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated in the drawing it is to be understood that alternative forms are contemplated commensurate in scope with the appended claims. v

What is claimed is:

1. In a coin collector, a coin trap, a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, a refund chute, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute, and a latch member for said vane controlled by said shutter.

2. In a coin collector, a coin trap, a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, a refund chute, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute, a latch member supported by said shutter out of the path of said vane when said shutter is in its normal position but lying in the path of said vane when said shutter is displaced from its normal position.

3. .In a coin collector, a coin trap, a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, a refund chute, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute and means controlled by said shutter for controlling said vane.

l. .In a coin collector, a coin chute, means for temporarily retaining a deposited coin in said chute, pivoted means for supporting said retaining means, a refund chute below said retaining means, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute and means controlled by said shutter forcontrolling said supporting means.

5. In a coin collector, a coin trap, a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, a refund chute, a pivoted shutter in'said chute and means controlled by said shutter for preventing a movement in one direction of said vane when said shutter is held displaced from its normal position.

6. In a coin collector, a main coin chute, means in said chute for temporarily retaining a deposited coin, pivoted means for supporting said retaining means, a refund chute and a collect chute below said retaining means, a relay for moving said pivoted means in one direction to discharge coins into said refund chute, and for moving said pivoted means in the opposite direction for discharging coins into said collect chute, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute, and means controlled by said shutter for preventing at times the movement of said pivoted means in one direction while freely permitting the movement of said pivoted means in the opposite direction.

7. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a coin trap therein, a refund chute and a collect chute below said trap, a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, means for moving said vane in one direction to discharge coins from said trap into said collect chute, and for moving said vane in the opposite direction to discharge coins from said trap into said refund chute, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute, and means controlled by said shutter when said shutter is held displaced from its normal position for preventing said vane from being moved to its refunding position.

8. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a coin trap therein, a refund chute and a collect chute below said trap; a pivoted vane for supporting said trap, means for moving said vane in one direction to discharge coins from said trap into said collect chute and for moving said vane in the opposite direction to discharge coins from said trap into said refund chute, a coin pocket in said refund chute normally accessible from outside said collector, a pivoted shutter in said refund chute between said pocket and said vane, a latch member supported bysaid shutter in a position out of the path of said vane when said shutter is in its normal position but projecting into the refunding path of said vane when said shutter is held displaced from its normal position.

WILLIAM H. HARVEY. 

